Report: Next Xbox to require Kinect connection, game installs

Rumors point to increased multitasking, no compatibility with Xbox 360 controls.

As Sony and Microsoft both start showing signs that their next generation of consoles will be revealed soon, we're getting in to the heavy-duty rumor-mongering season. The latest credible rumor comes from a well-informed-sounding source going by the handle SuperDaE (by way of Kotaku). You may remember him as the one who tried to sell an apparently genuine, codenamed "Durango" development kit on eBay before being shut down by Microsoft. He has new information he claims is from white papers intended to prepare developers to work on the new system.

According to Kotaku's report, the next Xbox will integrate a new version of the Kinect not as an optional motion-control accessory but as a required peripheral included with every system that "must be plugged in and calibrated for the console to even function." That would seem to raise some obvious privacy concerns, and it strikes us as an unnecessary power and processing drain for games that don't use the depth-sensing camera. On the other hand, packaging a new Kinect with every system would let designers create motion and voice controls for their games without worrying about fragmenting the market (though it still seems odd it would have to be plugged in at all times).

The new Kinect will reportedly improve its tech specs over the current model, as has been widely reported and assumed—just not as much as you might think. The 3D camera's depth will only have a depth-sensing resolution of 512×424 according to the new report. That's a rather modest improvement over the 320×240 resolution in the original Kinect and well below the "hundredths of a millimeter" tracking promised by devices like the Leap Motion. Still, SuperDaE claims the new Kinect will be able to detect thumbs and open/closed hands, and it will sport a wider viewing angle for easier calibration. The new Kinect will also have an improved 1920×1080 2D camera and the ability to track up to six players at once, according to the report, with slightly more points of skeletal articulation on each player.

Kotaku's report also suggests that the next Xbox will be the first console to require mandatory software installation to a 500GB hard drive, a rumor that fits with reports that discs sold for the system will be one-time use affairs. Don't worry about sitting through a long installation process, though. Games will reportedly be split into discrete sections so the installation can take place as the game is being played off the disc.

Microsoft's next system will also have increased multitasking capabilities, according to the report. Rather than simply running a light system-level OS to operate things like chat and achievement tracking, users will be able to run apps like Twitter while a game is running or even suspend a game to use another app without losing their place.

While there's no word on backward compatibility with Xbox 360 software in the report, Xbox 360 controllers reportedly won't work with the new system, owing to a "new wireless technology" used by the evolved controllers.

As far as pure hardware power, the new report largely echoes previous rumors about the system's power, with an eight-core CPU operating alongside a DirectX 11.x+ GPU and 8GB of DDR3 memory. This setup should be technically able to run 1080p games in stereoscopic 3D, but it might not be able to handle that resolution and frame buffering for today's more complex games, let alone the kinds of games we'll see in coming years.

Of course, we can't put too much stock in anything in this report until it's confirmed by Microsoft. With Sony widely expected to officially kick off the race on February 20, we might not have to wait too much longer for Microsoft's response.

No backwards compatibility, kills off the whole concept of reselling games, and requires an extra $150 piece of hardware? That's it! I'm going back to PC gaming! Microsoft obviously does not care about its customers.

So if the install disc is a one time only deal, what's going to happen when you invariably fill up that 500GB HDD? Is it going to be like steam where you buy a game and it's mostly just a code that gets added to your account and you can redownload the game whenever you like? Or is it going to be like existing console stores where a redownload requires you to repurchase the game?

For that matter, 500GB hard drives are already on the way out, would it have been that hard to stick a 1TB or 2TB drive in there? The transition from low spec modern to outright out of date is going to happen early in the console's lifetime.

I bet game publishers are ecstatic over the digital distribution model though. With no more physical shelf space to worry about they need never reduce a game below full price again.

No backwards compatibility rules me out. My pile of shame is too massive to simply drop, have invested too much money in my game collection to simply disregard them all for the new system. Can see me waiting at least 12 months rather than a first month purchase if this turns out to be true.

Back in 2008, when I first got my Xbox, I had no htpc, apple TV, or even a cable box...if they'd spent more effort getting large hard drive storage into my Xbox, it's quite possible that I'd be using the Xbox to buy or rent movies, not to mention games.

One time use discs, eh? We'll see I guess. Are these gonna be like HD-DVD discs where they all go on sale real cheap about a year or two after introduction?

So if the install disc is a one time only deal, what's going to happen when you invariably fill up that 500GB HDD? Is it going to be like steam where you buy a game and it's mostly just a code that gets added to your account and you can redownload the game whenever you like? Or is it going to be like existing console stores where a redownload requires you to repurchase the game?

Well, when we said 'one time deal' what we meant is that we have enough optical drives that destroy disks when reading them in the warehouse that we are going to be marketing it as a feature rather than a defect...

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft and Sony also manage to completely fumble the transition from the current generation to the next by pushing hardware away from what their audiences are looking for, alienating them with misfeatures and not offering an upgrade path via backwards-compatibility.

The part about 360 controllers not working with it isn't at all surprising. I have no doubt they'll be selling the system at a loss, especially if every one includes a kinect. They'll need to sell as many extra controllers and other accessories as possible to make up for that.

I wonder if the kinect will continuously check whether the camera has a piece of tape over it even if you're doing something that doesn't need it. Even ignoring the privacy issues the extra power consumption for something not everyone is even going to be using sounds really wasteful. Also what about the people who live in very small apartments?

The 360 is an amazing console. I even like the kinect. But so far nothing in any of the rumors makes me want to buy the next one.

No backwards compatibility, kills off the whole concept of reselling games, and requires an extra $150 piece of hardware? That's it! I'm going back to PC gaming! Microsoft obviously does not care about its customers.

You do realize that these rumors are currently just that--rumors, right?

Until Sony, Microsoft, and Valve announce their console hardware, there really isn't a point to deciding which one to buy or not to buy.

Dez1013 wrote:

Remember, this is all just rumor. It sure is fun to speculate but until we have concrete announcements the purpose of most of this stuff is to keep people's eyes on the ball until the unveil.

More often, these are leaks, not rumours. A rumour tends to be published on some personal blog somewhere and spun off through message boards, and often a leak comes from sources that have previously been accurate, and published on major sites - like this. The words are used interchangeably a lot, though.

If they do turn out to be rumours, obviously everyone's position will change. The reactions you see here are people reacting to what will happen if it turns out not to be a rumour.

Okay, two personal problems with this:1 the mic on my current Kinect is so hypersensetive that the noise of the console running will actually cause it to fail for voice calibration. Something about the hard wood causing vibration I suppose, which is transmitting to the kinect as sound through the table, tv or wall...or all.2 the room I keep this thing in is narrow, meaning that it barely works--at all--with a zoom play reduction lens.

So if the kinect is going to be a requirement for next gen games, I'm pretty sure I'm boned off the bat. Never had considerable success with it. Even in other rooms before I moved it to its final resting place.

I've yet to find kinect gaming an enjoyable experience. Shoving this feature down my throat is basically saying "Hey, buy a new house."

I've always avoided consoles. The only reason I even bought a PS3 was for Netflix (which my Smart TV took care of a year later) and some sports games I can count on one hand. Everything but sports/fighting type games are subpar on a console.

This doesn't do anything to make me want to switch over to consoles, especially since it seems most games these days are just rehashed garbage with new textures and bright shiny things to distract you from the awful story lines and lack of real content. I'd say "Good luck getting people to pay $70 every time you remake Halo" but I think that sadly, that already happens.

No backwards compatibility, kills off the whole concept of reselling games, and requires an extra $150 piece of hardware? That's it! I'm going back to PC gaming! Microsoft obviously does not care about its customers.

While these are rumors, one thing isn't a rumor....MS's patent to use their kinect device to see how many people are in the room viewing the content and disabling the content when more people than the content is licensed for are present.

Pay per view is so 20th century. Pay per viewer is where its at now. Wouldn't be surprised if they didn't start charging for pay per player too.

We have a small house, the living room is tiny and our layout doesn't foster any reasonable use of Kinect at all, so it's pretty disappointing to hear even a rumor that always-on, always-calibrated Kinect will be a requirement to even use the system. That always-on thing has to go, like others have said that's pretty *damn* creepy...

The other things I can deal with, I'm always on the internet at home and DLing stuff, whatever...but the forced integration of Kinect is giving me a lot of pause. I guess I'll wait till 2/20 to see what Sony previews...right now the next gen is looking incredibly lackluster

You do realize that these rumors are currently just that--rumors, right?

Until Sony, Microsoft, and Valve announce their console hardware, there really isn't a point to deciding which one to buy or not to buy.

Dez1013 wrote:

Remember, this is all just rumor. It sure is fun to speculate but until we have concrete announcements the purpose of most of this stuff is to keep people's eyes on the ball until the unveil.

More often, these are leaks, not rumours. A rumour tends to be published on some personal blog somewhere and spun off through message boards, and often a leak comes from sources that have previously been accurate, and published on major sites - like this. The words are used interchangeably a lot, though.

If they do turn out to be rumours, obviously everyone's position will change. The reactions you see here are people reacting to what will happen if it turns out not to be a rumour.

Yes, I am aware of that. But sometimes the leaks/rumors don't make sense, at which point one shouldn't jump to conclusions.

For example, why would Microsoft limit games to only one console instead of using the current limitation in the Windows Store where one account can install on up to five devices at a time? Being able to install Windows Store Skulls of the Shogun on five devices but purchasing the same game on the Xbox Live and only being able to install it on one console doesn't make sense. Especially if they release the Xbox TV along with the NextBox.

No backwards compatibility, kills off the whole concept of reselling games, and requires an extra $150 piece of hardware? That's it! I'm going back to PC gaming! Microsoft obviously does not care about its customers.

Everyone clammers for backwards compatibility, but hardly anyone uses it. And for the other guy who mentioned his backlog of games - Your Xbox 360 won't magically stop working the date the new one is released. I'd rather them spend the time and money on new console features and performance rather than waste time trying to shoehorn backwards compatibility in.

It also doesn't "require and extra $150 piece of hardware". The Kinect sensor will be included. There isn't an additional purchase.

Whats funny to me is these people who immediately say that they aren't going to purchase it because of X reason will be the first ones in line at Gamestop when the first hyped game that they want comes out.

There's one thing that I find a bit disquieting in there. It ships with a new version of Kinect and it's required to be connected and running in order to use the console. Whether you like Kinect or not, I can see this as a potential gross invasion of privacy. It reminds of the Robbins v Lower Merion School District case. There, the school supplied kids with laptops that had software installed allowing them (the school) to remotely activate the web cam. This software was not made known to students or parents. The purpose for this was supposedly so laptops could be more easily located if lost or stolen. However it wasn't used for that at all. Instead cameras were turned on throughout the evening capturing video/images of kids/parents in various states of undress, watching tv, surfing the internet, etc.

Although I don't expect Microsoft to do something like that, it is not inconceivable to me that someone could create malware that would allow for the Kinect to be abused in this way. That, combined with a feature like remote start (which the PS3 already has, I'm not sure about XBox) could allow someone to watch you without you even realizing it.

Less sinister but still a potential risk, is the possibility of having footage captured by Kinect and cached on a MS server being subpoenaed by the police. Perhaps you stated or did something incriminating while playing XBox. If the police were already trying to build a case against you, they could look for this kind of information, the same way they might have your emails requisitioned.

Lastly, I'm not sure if anybody has seen the Android app "Google Goggles", but it allows you to take a picture, have it analyzed and return search results. As a test I took a picture of myself wearing my Jack Daniel's t-shirt and it brought up search results for Jack Daniel's. It is possible that Microsoft has some kind of similar software, or could develop it in the future. That combined with the facial recognition software discussed in the article could allow them to recognize logos, clothes and various other things in view of the Kinect camera to direct advertising towards you. Some people are OK with this, but personally, I am not. I'm not interested in having a camera in my living room data mining my life for ad revenues. It's just way too 1984 for my tastes.

No backwards compatibility, kills off the whole concept of reselling games, and requires an extra $150 piece of hardware? That's it! I'm going back to PC gaming! Microsoft obviously does not care about its customers.

Ballmer: Well, darn.

/Kicks DirectX11 For Windows Live through the engine.

I'll see your DX11 and raise you Steam for Linux, which will likely be OpenGL for the most part.

There's one thing that I find a bit disquieting in there. It ships with a new version of Kinect and it's required to be connected and running in order to use the console. Whether you like Kinect or not, I can see this as a potential gross invasion of privacy. It reminds of the Robbins v Lower Merion School District case. There, the school supplied kids with laptops that had software installed allowing them (the school) to remotely activate the web cam. This software was not made known to students or parents. The purpose for this was supposedly so laptops could be more easily located if lost or stolen. However it wasn't used for that at all. Instead cameras were turned on throughout the evening capturing video/images of kids/parents in various states of undress, watching tv, surfing the internet, etc.

Although I don't expect Microsoft to do something like that, it is not inconceivable to me that someone could create malware that would allow for the Kinect to be abused in this way. That, combined with a feature like remote start (which the PS3 already has, I'm not sure about XBox) could allow someone to watch you without you even realizing it.

Less sinister but still a potential risk, is the possibility of having footage captured by Kinect and cached on a MS server being subpoenaed by the police. Perhaps you stated or did something incriminating while playing XBox. If the police were already trying to build a case against you, they could look for this kind of information, the same way they might have your emails requisitioned.

Lastly, I'm not sure if anybody has seen the Android app "Google Goggles", but it allows you to take a picture, have it analyzed and return search results. As a test I took a picture of myself wearing my Jack Daniel's t-shirt and it brought up search results for Jack Daniel's. It is possible that Microsoft has some kind of similar software, or could develop it in the future. That combined with the facial recognition software discussed in the article could allow them to recognize logos, clothes and various other things in view of the Kinect camera to direct advertising towards you. Some people are OK with this, but personally, I am not. I'm not interested in having a camera in my living room data mining my life for ad revenues. It's just way too 1984 for my tastes.

Yes, I am aware of that. But sometimes the leaks/rumors don't make sense, at which point one shouldn't jump to conclusions.

For example, why would Microsoft limit games to only one console instead of using the current limitation in the Windows Store where one account can install on up to five devices at a time? Being able to install Windows Store Skulls of the Shogun on five devices but purchasing the same game on the Xbox Live and only being able to install it on one console doesn't make sense. Especially if they release the Xbox TV along with the NextBox.

And we're as aware as you are that this isn't a direct press release from Microsoft. That shouldn't prevent anyone from reacting to these potential features, and broadcasting their intent to not buy that if they end up being true. Gauging consumer reaction to these 'rumours' would hopefully convince them to steer away from bad decisions if they look like they'll be too damaging. Which if Steambox and Ouya's visibility really takes off, they should be.

A hardware dongle to use the old controllers would be nice, but that's just me.

And I'll echo - I really do want BC for the new Xbox. I'm pretty sure most of the games in my collection aren't going to get rereleased for the new system

If Microsoft were feeling totally crazy, a single available USB port would allow the hardware dongle that already exists and is fairly widely available(sold by Microsoft to allow use of xbox controllers on PCs) to be used on the new console.

I don't have anywhere for a required Kinect to go. I play games on a front projector, all my components and consoles are beside me, not in front of me. For me to use a Kinect, I'd have to get it its own little table, it would need a 25ft cord to reach the Xbox, and I would need a new projector that would allow me to play with all the lights on since the current Kinect needs good lighting, and I'm assuming the newer one will as well. So if this is all true, I just have to say I'm happy to be finally getting into PC gaming.

yeah, these rumors are definitely making me wonder if a new xbox will be in the cards for me. one time installs and always on internet requirements are bad, but not dealbreakers for me. the kinect req is, unless kinect changes significantly for the new generation- there's just not enough room in my gaming area for it to work correctly.

No backwards compatibility, kills off the whole concept of reselling games, and requires an extra $150 piece of hardware? That's it! I'm going back to PC gaming! Microsoft obviously does not care about its customers.

Everyone clammers for backwards compatibility, but hardly anyone uses it. And for the other guy who mentioned his backlog of games - Your Xbox 360 won't magically stop working the date the new one is released. I'd rather them spend the time and money on new console features and performance rather than waste time trying to shoehorn backwards compatibility in.

It also doesn't "require and extra $150 piece of hardware". The Kinect sensor will be included. There isn't an additional purchase.

Whats funny to me is these people who immediately say that they aren't going to purchase it because of X reason will be the first ones in line at Gamestop when the first hyped game that they want comes out.

And how do you support the claim that "hardly anyone" uses backwards compatibility? If everyone "clammers" for it, obviously it's because they want to use it. And since these systems have not been supporting backwards compatibility, how can people actually use it if they want to?

You also think everybody has tons of room for multiple consoles. Not everybody wants to have a 360 next to the next gen system, just so they can play their favorite older games, when they should be able to run on the new system. It takes enough room for those who own both a 360 and a ps3 - now they're supposed to keep their older-gen systems connected next to their new ones? How many inputs do you think people have on their tvs and receivers?

As someone else said.....It makes my decision to run with PC gaming look like a damn good one.

Though, have to remember, when will Microsoft try to stick it to us with Windows 8 (or 9)?

And mind you, I've always been one to pay for something I really want. What publishers/devs need to remember is that they simply won't make a sale unless that purchase price meets my expectations for that game. Or in other words, you're not getting $60 for a game unless I think it's awesome.

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in Pittsburgh, PA.